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Sears Customers Behind On Credit

January 16, 1998|By George Gunset.

Customers of Sears, Roebuck and Co. fell further behind on credit card payments in the fourth quarter, forcing the retailer to write off 9.23 percent of delinquent charges in November. That was up from writeoffs of 7.61 percent in July and well above the 6.7 percent industry average. Rising delinquencies may prompt Sears to increase its bad-debt reserve to as much as $120 million from $40 million in the third quarter, analysts predicted.